Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.4.63

Diktyon no.: 12156

Introduction: This 15th-century manuscript contains three Lexicographic treatises, and is known to be the only copy of the Lexicon Rhetoricum Cantabrigiense. The main text is the Lexicon in decem oratores Atticos (Lexicon of the Ten Orators) by the Greek grammarian Valerius Harpocration from Alexandria (2nd century CE). The manuscript is cited in editions as Q. The Lexicon Rhetoricum Cantabrigiense was edited from the marginal notes on the folios of this copy of Harpocration's Lexicon by the Cambridge scholar Peter Paul Dobree (1782-1825) as an appendix to Porson's edition of Photius' Lexicon (London 1822, reprinted in Leipzig 1823). The third text is a treatise on transitive and intransitive verbs, here untitled but which in its tradition is ascribed to Maximus Planudes (ca. 1260 - ca. 1310), under different titles. The text is not edited but is preserved in several recensions in a significant number of manuscripts. Some of them attribute it to Constantinos Lascaris, but the oldest to Planudes. A fragment with verbs beginning with alpha was printed by L. Bachmann from the manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, grec 2669 , which is almost complete.

Language(s): Greek

1. ff. 1r-53v

Harpocration, Valerius, Lexicon in decem oratores Atticos Lexicon of the Ten Orators

Incipit: f. 1r ⟨Ἄ⟩βαρις· κύριον· λοιμοῦ φασι κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην γεγονότος

Explicit: f. 53v ἐτιμᾶτο δὲ Ἀθήνησι καὶ ψίθυρος Ἀφροδίτη καὶ Ἔρως ψίθυρος

Final rubric: f. 53v τέλος τοῦ Ἀρποκρατίωνος

The conjugate folios 34 and 39 were inverted at the time of the restoration of the manuscript but the foliation numbers and quire signature run consistently. The correct sequence is: f. 33v (end at κ 91: ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν ἤδη μοι δοκῶ ν-), ff. 39r (beginning: -ὴ τοὺς θεοὺς ἐν τοῖς κύκλοις ἐμαυτὸν ἐνδεδυκότα) - 39v, ff. 35r-38v (end at ν 19: τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐπηνάγκαζον τοῖς νόμοις χρῆσθαι), ff. 34r (beginning at ν 20: νότιον) - 34v, ff. 40r-53v.

TLG 1389.002

2. ff.1r-50v

Lexicon Rhetoricum Cantabrigiense

Incipit: f. 1r ⟨Ἄ⟩γωγεύς ὁ ἐνάγων τὴν δίκην ὁ διώκων καὶ ὁ λῶρος ᾧ ἄγονται οἱ ἵπποι

Explicit: f. 50v Ποτάμιοι δὲ ὡς ῥᾳδίως δεχόμενοι τοὺς ἀγράφους νόμους

The Lexicon is written by a second hand in yellow ink in the margins of the following folios (the same hand added extracts from Harpocration, e.g. f. 40r):

ff. 1r-2r (the first line, on upper margin of f. 1r, is barely legible)
f. 3r, from ⟨Ἀ⟩λογίου δίκη (ed. Houtsma, p. 10 l. 23, reprinted in Latte-Erbse, Lexica Graeca minora, Hildesheim 1965, p. 69-86)
ff. 5r-6v, from ⟨Ἀ⟩ντιγραφή (11, 1)
f. 9v, from Ἀργίας δίκη (12, 3)
ff. 13r-15r, from ⟨Β⟩ιαίων δίκη (12, 10)
f. 16r, from ⟨Δ⟩ιωμοσία (13, 26)
ff. 18v-19v, from Εἰσαγγελία (14, 4)
ff. 20v-23r, from Ἔνδειξις (15, 3)
ff. 25v-26r, from ⟨Ε⟩ὐθυνία (17, 19)
ff. 28v-29r, from Ἱερὸς γάμος (18, 9)
ff. 31r-32v, from ⟨Κ⟩ατηγορίας δίκη (18, 13)
f. 33v, from Κυαμεύονται (19, 14)
ff. 39r-39v, from ⟨Κ⟩υρία ἐκκλησία (19, 19; ff. 34 and 39 are inverted, see above)
ff. 35r-36v, from ἀνακρίνονται (20, 20)
ff. 37v-38r, from Ναύκληρος (21, 20)
ff. 34r-v, from Ξενίας γραφὴ (22, 11)
ff. 40v-44r, from Ὀροσάγγης (22, 23)
ff. 45v-46v, from ⟨Π⟩ροβολὴ (25, 14)
f. 47v, from ⟨Ῥ⟩ητορική (26, 10)
f. 50v, from Σφήττιοι (26, 15)

TLG 4301.001

3. ff. 53v-55v

Planudes, Maximus, approximately 1260-approximately 1310, Περὶ μεταβατικῶν καὶ ἀμεταβάτων ῥημάτων Περὶ τῆς συντάξεως τῶν ῥημάτων De syntaxi verborum

Incipit: f. 53v τῶν ῥημάτων τὰ μὲν οὐδαμῆ μεταβαίνουσαν

Explicit: f. 55v τελευτῶ ἀντὶ τοῦ τέλος λαμβάνω τελευτῶ δὲ τὸ ἔργον ἀντὶ τοῦ τελειῶ

Cf. L. Bachmann, Anecdota Graeca vol. II, 1828, p. 153; W. Hermann, De emendanda ratione, 1801, p. 391-417; C. Wendel, s.v. Planudes in Paulys Realencyclopädie, t. XX 2, coll. 2209-2210; A. Kopp, Beiträge zur griechischen Excerpten-Litteratur, 1887, p. 76-86

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: ff. iv recto - xii verso Western paper, folded in quarto. Watermark: visible on f. x, basilisk ( 51 × 36 mm. ) near the gutter; the design is similar to Mošin-Tralijc, 1053 , but bigger and with a thicker tail. ff. 1r-55v non watermarked paper, folded in quarto.

Extent: Codex: i-iii + iv-xii + 55 + xiii-xv leaves. 230-235 × 150 mm.

Foliation: i-iii + iv-xii + 1-55 + xiii-xv. Modern foliation in pencil in Arabic numerals in the top right-hand corner, recto.

Collation

The manuscript consists of 9 quires: the core of the manuscript is made up of quires 3-9; quires 1 and 2 are later additions.

Quire 1^8-1 ff. iv recto - x verso
Quire 2²⁺² ff. xi recto - [xiib verso]
Quires 3-8⁸ ff. 1r-48v
Quire 9^8-1 ff. 49r-55v

Quire signatures in brown ink, in Greek numerals from β (f. 9r) to ϛ (f. 41r), on upper margin of the first folio recto of quires 4-8.

Modern quire signatures in pencil in the lower right-hand corner of the first rectos of quires 6-9 from 4 (f. 25r) to 7 (f. 49r); on f. 49r the same number in brown ink is partially preserved.

Condition

In generally good condition; folios are yellowed and stained; there is a tape repair on the lower margin of f. 1r, and some stains on the upper margin of that same folio and under the tape obscuring the text. Several folios were repaired by the binder Wilson in 1897. Before him, the quires had been strengthened with stubs from a manuscript perhaps in Latin.

Layout

ff. 1r-55v: A single column of 32-37 lines. 180-190 × 110-115 mm.

Hand(s)

Harpocration and Planudes' works are written in a minuscule with a cursory and untreated aspect, upright or slanting slightly to the right, in brown ink.

There is a marked variation in letter size. Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word are very frequent, and authors names are almost constantly abbreviated. Breathings are curved and mute iota is not used.

Gamma and tau are often high. Alpha is drawn in two shapes, one rounded and one with a long oblique stroke. The majuscule beta has a bilobate shape, often enlarged, and epsilon is both regular minuscule and lunate. The sigma telikon is not present. Omega is close, and often enlarged.

The Lexicon Rhetoricum is written by a second hand in a minuscule slanting slightly to the right, in pale yellow ink. Like the first hand, this one uses many abbreviations, but it looks more orderly. Many letters are in majuscule or enlarged.

Additions

Two concise descriptions in Latin have been added on f. xii verso, by two different hands. The beginning of the alphabetical sections of the Harpocration lexicon is sometimes indicated by the corresponding letter in the margins: 18v, 27r, 28v, 30r, 34r, 35v, 39v, 47v, 48r.

Binding

Binding by J.S. Wilson and Son of Cambridge, dated 1897 by note on f. i verso. Half-leather, millboard with marbled cloth covering, brown leather spine and corners. The title ‘Harpocration’ is tooled in gold on the spine.

247 × 170 × 32 mm.

Accompanying Material

A note by John E. Sandys is attached to the stub after f. xii verso: ‘All the articles in Γ collated throughout, and doubtful point in Β examined, on behalf of Georg Wentzel of Göttingen for his edition of Harpocration. May 18967. J.E. Sandys’.

A copy of the manuscript record extracted from the 'A catalogue of the Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge' is glued to the following stub.

History

Origin: The characteristics of the scripts suggest that it was produced during the late 15th century.

Provenance and Acquisition

Owned by Jean-Baptiste Hautin (1580?-1640), who added his ex libris on f. iv verso, and ‘ Harpocrationis vocabularium ’ on f. v recto.

John Moore (1646-1714), bishop of Ely : no. 998 in the handwritten supplementary list of Moore's manuscripts, now CUL, MS Oo.7.50.2, compiled by Thomas Tanner (1674-1735) after the publication of Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (1697).

Presented to the University Library in 1715 by George I . The University of Cambridge general bookplate (engraved by William Jackson in 1706-1707) was added on f. iv verso.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description (2019) draws on A catalogue of the Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1856, pp. 253-254.

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.

Bibliography

Lexica graeca minora, (Hildesheim, Olms, 1965)

Lexeis of the ten orators / Harpocration, (Amsterdam, A.M. Hakkert, 1991)

The Greek Manuscripts of John Moore and Etienne Baluze Codices Manuscripti, , (56/57, 29-42, 2006)

Fragments et témoignages / Caecilius de Calè-actè, (Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2015)

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.4.63

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